The Playlist, Netflix series review

Told from six unique perspectives, we watch Spotify grow as Daniel Ek, the founder of the music streaming site, fights against the odds, music companies, record labels and other tech giants to make the dream of a free streaming service a reality.

The Playlist is Netflix's new show about everyone's favorite music streaming service, it's the origin story of Spotify.

What's it about? It's an adaptation of a 2021 book called "Spotify Untold" by some Swedish investigative journalists, it tells the story of the journey from an idea in Daniel Ek's head in Sweden to Spotify becoming one of the biggest companies in the world and a service that would revolutionize the way people listen to music, it's free streaming service at a time when everyone thought the only way to get free music was to pirate. This is an exceptionally well-told and fascinating story.

Some are probably thinking that there are too many stories right now about these types of tech companies and how they developed. We've had WeCrashed and the story of Wework, we've had the story of Theranos through Dropout with Amanda Seyfried's fantastic performance and we've had things like Super Pumped which is the story of the beginnings of Uber, and that's just a few of them, so you might be thinking: well, why do I want to watch another similar series?

Well the answer is because this is a really good story and it is really well done and as is standard in this type of series it comes with the caveat that this is a dramatization, it is a drama and of course we don't know as a viewer which of these events could have happened and which could not.

The story of Daniel Ek is the central focus of The Playlist, it is about a Swedish entrepreneur and boy genius who even at a very young age made so much money that he can almost retire, he is bored and looking for a new project, at the same time in Sweden The Pirate Bay is one of the biggest file sharing services, it is making headlines as it is being sued because it is being used to illegally share music. Daniel Ek is inspired by these events and decides to create a free streaming service, something that today doesn't seem like such a crazy idea, but at that time 15 years ago that was something that nobody probably thought could happen and certainly not something that the music industry was at all very enthusiastic about and so the story begins.

This is the story of an idea that progresses through many hopes, many developments and also has to face against the impending power of the music industry who are definitely not willing to give their music away for free.

It's about copyright management, how the technology of the new service works, but it's told in such an interesting, accessible way and from many different points of view. It's a David and Goliath type story, it's a beautifully told play, but also the way it's set up, the way the music is used, the way the language is used and the way the different people in the story interact with each other, makes it gripping throughout.

This is also a story that you might not know a lot about, because even though today Spotify is one of those services that almost everyone seems to have on their phone and in their homes, but do you know about people who were behind it and the challenges that they had to go through to get to what it has become today.

I mean it's hard to overestimate exactly what was accomplished here with all the multimedia-oriented technology companies in the world, to know how important it was for a technology company from Sweden that managed to get to the top of the music industry, and has managed to solidify its position as a company that is synonymous with streaming. And sure, there are other similar services from these huge multinational companies, but somehow Spotify got there and this is the story told in a fascinating way and I think if you like drama, you like music, you like technology, then this is the perfect show for you, however, if you like any of those three things on their own, I think you're going to enjoy The Playlist because this is a very well done series.

This Netflix show about Spotify is worth your time if you're a music fan or just interested in a fascinating story told brilliantly.

The Playlist is now available on Netflix for streaming worldwide.

****

© Emby Lat

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